Third

Individual operators reported record-breaking production from the Marcellus Shale in 2011, producing more than 1 Tcf from the Pennsylvania portion of the play, according to new Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) data.

Triad Hunter LLC, a subsidiary of Magnum Hunter Resources Corp., has closed on a $24.8 million acquisition of approximately 15,558 gross (12,186 net) acres in southeastern Ohio’s Utica Shale from an undisclosed seller, the company said Friday.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) told California regulators Tuesday that it has completed the validation of safe operating pressures on the about one-third of its 6,000-mile natural gas transmission pipeline system that cuts through highly populated urban areas know as “high consequence areas” (HCA).

With his third State of the Union speech behind him and the election that could deliver him a second term just over 10 months away, President Obama has taken his “Blueprint for an America Built to Last” on the road, promoting “an all-out, all-of-the-above” energy strategy to audiences in Arizona, Nevada and Colorado.

Prices fell at all but two points Tuesday in the start of the third holiday-shortened trading period in less than a month. The softness appeared to defy cooling trends forecast for Wednesday in the Midwest and South while the Northeast gave up Friday’s big gains even with lows below freezing remaining in the next-day forecast.

Hess Corp. announced Thursday that it would spend $6.8 billion in global capital expenditures (capex) in 2012, more than one-third of which would target unconventional sources in the United States, specifically the Bakken, Eagle Ford and Utica shales.

California regulators on Thursday opened a third penalty proceeding at Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E), which alleges the utility violated state law and various federal regulations. The allegations came as the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) Consumer Protection and Safety Division (CPSD) completed its investigation of the San Bruno, CA pipeline tragedy.

California regulators on Thursday opened a third penalty proceeding for Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) alleging that the utility violated state law and various federal regulations. The allegations came as the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) Consumer Protection and Safety Division completed its investigation of the San Bruno, CA pipeline tragedy in 2010.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has refused to reconsider its decision to throw out a ban on oil and natural gas drilling in the Allegheny National Forest. Judge Jane Richards Roth denied a petition for panel rehearing and rehearing en banc that was requested by the Sierra Club, the Allegheny Defense Project (ADF) and Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, which are appellants in the case Minard Run Oil Company v. United States Forest Service et al. (Case No. 1-09-CV-125, Appeals Docket No. 10-2332). Last September the appeals court’s three-judge panel ruled that the U.S. Forest Service could not refuse to give operators permission to drill in the forest while an environmental impact study was being conducted (see NGI, Sept. 26, 2011).